Priestland’s Wales return blocked after Pivac made last-ditch bid
WAYNE Pivac has revealed he was blocked from selecting Rhys Priestland for Wales’s Guinness Six Nations squad.
Head coach Pivac asked his Welsh Rugby Union bosses for special dispensation to select Bath fly-half Priestland, who does not meet the 60-cap threshold for a player based outside Wales.
The 34-year-old from Carmarthen is expected to return to Wales with Cardiff Blues next term, but Pivac was barred from including the 50-cap playmaker despite those circumstances.
Pivac (circled, right) admitted he posed the question given the longterm injuries to Rhys Patchell and Gareth Anscombe, with the Blues’ Jarrod Evans winning selection alongside Dan Biggar and Callum Sheedy.
“In terms of Rhys Priestland, yeah, we’ve asked the question, along the lines of the Rhys Webb question when that was done at the time,” said Pivac.
“We have injuries. In Rhys Patchell, who’s coming back from a well-documented head knock and is now in a reconditioning programme, he’s been out of the game for a while.
“And obviously Gareth Anscombe is still out.
“So for us it’s about can we select Rhys if we need to call upon him. And that question has been asked. And so we’ve selected what we have on the basis that they are available.
“So we now know whether or not we can use Rhys should we get further injury – and no, we can’t.
“Jarrod’s been brought in yes, he was left out of the autumn series, and he’s been given parts of his game to work on, the kicking side of his game.
“So Neil Jenkins and Stephen Jones have been working hard with him on that, solidly behind the scenes.
“So we’re interested to see how that’s been developing. And we know about his running game and that he’s a gutsy defender.” Priestland has not played Test rugby since 2017, but not even a pending return to Wales has proved enough to sway Pivac’s WRU bosses over a potential recall.
Cardiff playmaker Evans is the only fly-half in Pivac’s squad based in Wales, with Biggar at Northampton and Sheedy at Bristol. Carmarthen-born hookers Ken Owens and Ryan Elias are both named in the squad along with Pontyberem scrumhalf Kieran Hardy, Newcastle Emlyn No. 9 Gareth Davies and Bancyfelin’s Jonathan Davies.